Al Smith

Alfred Emanuel "Al" Smith (30 December 1873-4 October 1944) was Governor of New York from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 1920, succeeding Charles S. Whitman and preceding Nathan L. Miller, and again from 1 January 1923 to 31 December 1928, succeeding Miller and preceding Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1928, he ran as the US Democratic Party's presidential candidate against US Republican Party candidate Herbert Hoover.

Biography
Al Smith was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City on 30 December 1873, the son of a father of Italian and German descent and a mother of Irish and Anglo-Irish descent. His family's surname was originally "Ferraro", but his father changed it to the English name "Smith"; ferraro in Italian refers to a blacksmith. Al Smith never attended high school or college, instead working for his family and serving as a Catholic altar boy. In 1895, he became an investigator under the Commission of Jurors, and he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1904 as a US Democratic Party member. After the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, Smith decided to make it a goal of his to fight for corrective workplace legislation, and he became sheriff of New York County in 1915.

Governor of New York
In 1917, he was elected President of the Board of Aldermen, and he was elected Governor in 1918. Smith was a major progressive leader in early 20th century America, and he became known as an anti-Prohibition candidate. In 1928, he becae the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, facing US Republican Party nominee Herbert Hoover in the general elections. Smith was seen as a puppet of the Pope due to his Catholic faith, and his progressivism alienated conservatives in the American South and Midwest. He lost the election, but his status as a Catholic presidential nominee led to many Catholics supporting the Democrats. Smith would become president of the company that built the Empire State Building, and he became wealthy. Despite being a progressive, he opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies, joing wealthy business executives in opposing him. In 1936 and 1940, Smith supported the Republican candidates against Roosevelt. He died in 1944 of a heart attack at the age of 70.